Great job from the Ecoglo Philippines installation team!
466 fire protection signs installed in record time at De La Salle University Laguna Campus.
This is the first installation using some of the new range of Fire Extinguisher, Fire Alarm, Fire Hose and directional signs.
All of the signs are S5 grade (easily exceeding PSPA Class D) and manufactured using Ecoglo’s unique High Temperature Curing manufacturing process.
Photoluminescent or luminous products are manufactured with a variety of processes with a variety of outcomes that impact on durability and performance.
Take a look at this recent article to get an understanding of how photoluminescent products are made and what HTC can deliver.
We often come across facility managers who are continually frustrated about how long exit signs last when they’ve read headline claims of 50,000 and even 100,000 hours!
This Tech piece gives a good explanation of how those claims are contrived and what the figures really mean.
During lockdown I completed the final report reviewing our 2 year, $450,000 research project which will redefine exit sign durability.
The project was partially funded by Callaghan Innovation and looked at innovative ways to simplify the electronic driver system of the exit sign.
Having already replaced the battery and battery charging systems (with Ecoglo’s photoluminescent energy storage panel) the driver system seemed like the next place to look for efficiency and durability gains.
The feedback from facility mangers has been phenomenal. The 0.5W power consumption combined with extended product life offer both sustainability benefits and cost savings – a great combination!
Download the article to get the full story.
I was reviewing an article about the new Acute Services Building at Christchurch Hospital and it did reinforce the movement that we’re seeing in the facility management industry.
From both a sustainability and whole life cost perspective facility managers are putting failure rates and maintenance costs under the microscope. We’re also seeing a demand for more durable exit signs from companies that generate their revenue from maintenance (ie the more exit signs fail the more revenue they generate).
Take a look at the full story behind the Christchurch Hospital installation by downloading here:
On Monday evening I put an idea to the Ecoglo team.
Let’s all chuck in what we can and get some money to the Philippines to help feed the vulnerable living in the area around the Ecoglo office in Rizal.
By Friday not only had we gathered nearly $1,000 but it had been sent to Rizal and the food delivered by Keith, Yolly and the rest of the Rizal crew.
Well done team!
As we come to the end of our first week of lockdown in New Zealand it’s great to see how Team Ecoglo has taken a fresh view of things to overcome the challenges that have been thrown at us – a different view of the world can be useful sometimes ๐
Having adapted to a year of earthquakes (in Christchurch NZ 10 years ago) Ecoglo was well prepared for business disruption but we never quite contemplated the global reach and velocity of the COVID-19 crisis. What we did have built into our DNA was an ability to take a fresh view, turn on a dime and adapt.
MANUFACTURING
The manufacturing team has responded with a record month in March producing 4 times February’s output and more than double March 2019’s output. They’ve also had to adapt to new safety protocols so that we can respond to our operating units working on essential construction around the world – construction driven by the need for authorities to act fast to build temporary infrastructure and healthcare facilities.
FIRE DESIGN
20 years of operating in global markets from small islands in the middle of the South Pacific means that working remotely is second nature to our New Zealand based team. That means that some quick hardware upgrades had our design team operating from their homes days before the lockdown was announced.
As well as our usual escape/evacuation route design for NZ and Australia we’ve quickly got design work underway to service global markets from the Middle East to the Philippines.
If you have evacuation routes needing to be built into a fire design for rapid response construction, or if you’re just getting planning in place to get your economy moving as quickly as possible, contact one of our business development team:
Australia: Contact Jeff Weston – jeff.weston@ecoglo.com
New Zealand: Contact Lester Easton – lester.easton@ecoglo.com
North & South America: Contact John Heffner – JohnH@Engplastics.com
Middle East, South Asia & ASEAN: Keith Phillips – keith.phillips@ecoglo.com
UK & Europe: Charmaine Bella – Charmaine@ecoglo.com
The first generation of hybrid photoluminescent exit signs simplified the energy storage system by removing the battery and battery charging electronics.
Ecoglo’s next generation hybrid will launch in June with an innovative approach to LED control. The circuit will have an extremely low part count and the components are seriously overrated in order to achieve world class reliability.
Combined with Ecoglo’s trusted HTC photoluminescent technology, the new Ecoglo HYU Hybrid will further extend the expected life of the sign, reducing both whole of life cost and its impact on the planet.
Facility managers will be pleased but I can’t see the Lighting Cartel being happy!
I was pairing a new bluetooth headset to my phone when I noticed the battery disposal warning. If even a battery this small is a disposal problem what happens to all of the failed batteries from exit signs and emergency lights?
As lighting cartels continue to exert maximum lobbying pressure, to block photoluminescent products from the market, serious questions need to be asked about the long term sustainability of “status quo” exit sign options.
Facility managers are well aware of the lighting industry’s dirty little secrets. Let’s hope regulators and compliance bodies can also see past the lobbying and make the right decisions for the planet.
Ecoglo has just released a new range of Exit Signs that minimise their impact on the planet.
The signs have no “Red List” ingredients (as per the Living Building Challenge Red List).
Check us out on the Declare web site:
Ecoglo Exit Signs BR2-LBC
Or download a Product Data Sheet:
For Australia and New Zealand
For all other markets:
Innovation at Ecoglo 